Thank you all for this special night. It began with Youth Spoken Word Performance and followed by a round robin reading by four poets laureate: Marty Geivais (Windsor), John. B. Lee (Brantford), George Elliott Clarke (National) and Anna Yin (Mississauga). Chaired by Richard Greene. (Read our featured poets’ biographies)
Thanks Mississauga News for spreading our stories, I have received many emails since. Thank lovingsister.com news as well.
Can Poetry matter? Once it was a very hot topic in USA raised by Dana Gioia in 1991 and here is a video on April 20, 2016 Dana Gioia on Why Poetry Matters Dana Gioia, chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts under President George W. Bush and poet laureate of California, talks about the importance of poetry in the United States.
Now read what our poets say:
Professor at University of Toronto, Richard Greene
I am like a fish asked to discuss water.
Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada, George Elliott Clarke
It is organic, physical, and as instinctive to human beings as is breathing. When I am depressed or when I am gay, I want words to augment my feelings. I want
words that help me cry or make me laugh. So, poetry is irrepressible.
First Poet Laureate of Edmonton, Alberta, Alice Major
Poetry matters because language is our human birthright. We carefully learn its sounds and rhythms as infants, we play with it all the time — and then we forget how to play. But it is the serious playfulness of poems that makes words matter, makes them resonate and stick with us. When we need to say important things, we turn to poetry.
